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Blackburn, M Sen‌

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shows up reg in YT vids of congress wingnuttery

SENATOR?! THE NEW PALIN?

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https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/marsha-blackburn

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MTA GMAIL 4 26

deregulation of AI, and corresponding increase in corporate power is already happening, and we must fight against it. In March 2026, the White House released its nationalframework for artificial intelligence, which urges Congress to preempt state laws, avoid any new regulatory body, and shield developers from liability. It was accompanied by a nearly 300-page draft bill from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and expected legislation from Rep. Jay Obernolte (R Calif.), chair of the House AI Task Force, who has said he is working on a bill on preemption....

8 25?

Endorsement or not

The day after U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn announced her candidacy for governor, she sent out a list of political luminaries from which she “garners tremendous support” and topped it with a comment from Gov. Lee.

AN 4 25

President Donald Trump's top loyalists are angling to climb the political ladder to help secure the future for his ultra-MAGA movement—and position themselves for greater influence. House members like far-right U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) are looking at the U.S. Senate, and far-right U.S. senators like Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) reportedly see hope in governors' mansions.

Some critical U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle are retiring, like Republican former Majority and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and the second-highest-ranking Democrat senator, Dick Durbin of Illinois.

"Democrats anxious to deny Donald Trump and his Republican Party a governing trifecta as soon as possible are feeling pretty good about their prospects for flipping the House in 2026, given the GOP’s fragile margin of control and the historical pattern of sizable midterm losses for the president’s party," New York magazine's "Intelligencer" reported last month.

"But the Senate, which has the power to confirm Trump’s executive branch and judicial nominations, is really going to be a reach. Democrats would need to flip four Senate seats to win control of the chamber. And an already difficult landscape is being made even tougher by the retirements of Democratic incumbents Gary Peters of Michigan, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and now Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. All three of these open seats could potentially trigger competitive races in 2026."

READ MORE: ‘Reeks of Eugenics’: RFK Jr.’s Autism ‘Registry’ Draws Nazi Germany Comparisons

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Enter Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who went from a freshman stripped of all of her committee assignments over incendiary language, to becoming chair of the Delivering on Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) subcommittee. She also sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Congresswoman Greene is now thinking about becoming Senator Greene. If successful, her controversial tactics could have a dramatic impact on what is supposed to be the "world's greatest deliberative body."

Rep. Greene is reportedly eyeing a run to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, and believes she would “crush” any GOP primary opponent—except Governor Brian Kemp, should he choose to enter the race—according to the right-wing website Daily Caller.

"Republicans are laser-focused on defeating Ossoff, whose narrow victory over former Republican Georgia Sen. David Perdue in a January 2021 runoff election was partly responsible for costing Senate Republicans their majority during the 2020 cycle," Daily Caller notes, adding, "Ossoff is the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state that Trump won last November."

Could Greene beat Ossoff?

READ MORE: Trump’s SignalGate Sit-Down Mocked as a ‘Him in a Nutshell’ Moment

"This would be a dream for Dems in Georgia," should Greene run, observed veteran journalist Lydia Polgreen.

"Somewhere at the DSCC [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] some operative is frantically wondering if there is anything they can do to ensure this happens," wrote University of Pennsylvania political and media historian Brian Rosenwald.

A Daily Caller source also suggested Ossoff would retain his Senate seat, especially should the election move into a runoff. And Ossoff "has been taunting Greene to jump into the race."

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville is reportedly mapping out a run for the Alabama Governor's mansion.

"Tuberville told a group of donors at a private event on Wednesday night that his mind is officially made up," the conservative website Yellowhammer News reported. "Rather than seeking re-election to the U.S. Senate, he is ready to run his next race in Alabama, and serve the people of the state in Montgomery instead of Washington.

An official campaign announcement is imminent in the coming weeks, but latest reports offer insight into a finalized decision by Tuberville, who has been privately discussing jumping into the 2026 gubernatorial race for quite some time."

Senator Tuberville reportedly is "furious" at the leak, according to an opinion column at Alabama Political Reporter.

"Tuberville melted down like a plastic lawn chair in July. By Thursday morning, the whispers had turned into headlines. Then Tuberville took to Facebook — and things got weird."

“While I appreciate all the interest,” Tuberville wrote, “Suzanne and I are still praying about how to best serve the people of Alabama. When I have an official announcement about my future, you’ll hear it directly from me.”

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, a top "Trump loyalist," is "strongly looking" at a run for the Tennessee governor's mansion.

The Tennessean reports that "early polling suggests she would likely be the Republican frontrunner. Some politicos across the state consider her success a foregone conclusion: at a Tennessee Chamber of Commerce event in January, attendees called her 'Gov. Blackburn.'"

And U.S. Rep. Jim Comer (R-KY), the chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee, has also said he would be interested in running for governor.

READ MORE: ‘Incompetent. Irresponsible. Negligent’: Calls Mount for Hegseth’s Ouster or Prosecution

04/11/2025

by

Peter Montgomery

Intercessors for America, a group of ardently pro-Trump “prayer warriors” that is closely associated with White House aide Paula White, gathered a group of supporters in Washington, D.C. this week to “prayer walk the centers of power in our nation, pray with elected officials, and gather with other IFA intercessors.” It was the first of IFA’s new monthly “Insights and Intercession” events, designed to give supporters a chance to “strategically pray” in Washington, D.C.

The concept of “strategic” spiritual warfare is a key element of dominionist New Apostolic Reformation ideology. During the first Trump administration, White forged and maintained close relationships with Christian nationalist and dominionist leaders through her One Voice Prayer Movement and her alliance with groups like IFA. IFA President Dave Kubal has participated in national “prayer and repentance” gatherings attended by dozens of members of Congress.

Intercessors for America, like the National Faith Advisory Board White set up after Trump lost in 2020 and many Christian-right organizations and media outlets, functions as a virtual non-stop public relations operation for the Trump administration. Collectively, these activists relentlessly repeat assertions that Trump is anointed by God and that his opponents—whether Democrats or federal judges—are thwarting God’s will, thereby helping to maintain a cultish level of support among Trump’s base, which in turn empowers him to demand unquestioning loyalty from fellow Republicans.

IFA has celebrated Trump’s campaign of intimidation and retribution against law firms, laughably characterizing it as an effort to “bring an end to the politicization of justice once and for all.” It has produced a "special report" titled "Power Struggle: Trump vs. Activist Judges," which calls out judges who are "taking on the president." The subject line of a recent email read, “God is Protecting DOGE!”

On Thursday, IFA posted a photo of its prayer warriors praying through the halls of the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, IFA shared a picture of its members meeting with Rep. Nathaniel Moran, who IFA quoted saying, “We’re engaged in a spiritual battle here.” White also invited IFA’s intercessors to the White House for a private briefing.

IFA had been at the White House a week earlier as well, for an event sponsored by the White House Faith Office during IFA’s “supporters summit,” which bore the name of Dave Kubal’s forthcoming book, “Impacting Generations.” According to IFA’s Facebook page, Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Markwayne Mullin met with IFA supporters.

Among IFA’s activities are weekly prayer calls hosted by Kris Kubal, Dave’s wife and IFA’s Chief Program Office. For two weeks in a row in March, Kubal devoted her show to promoting the Trump administration’s claims that federal judges who are acting to slow or stop the administration’s lawbreaking are a “judicial oligarchy” exercising a form of “despotism.”

As Right Wing Watch reported in March, the guest speaker on March 20 was Phillip Jauregui, a longtime right-wing activist who heads the Judicial Action Group and promotes a wildly unconstitutional religious test for Supreme Court justices and other federal judges through the Center for Judicial Renewal, a project of the American Family Association’s political action affiliate. On the IFA call, Jauregui prayed that God would visit the Supreme Court justices in their dreams to bring them “into alignment with your will to preserve the proper powers of the presidency right now.”

Among the concrete steps Jauregui suggested was a little budgetary intimidation designed to force the Supreme Court to rein in lower courts judges. Jauregui asked, “What if Speaker Johnson put something out publicly and says, ‘Chief Justice Roberts, we’d like to talk with you about having Elon Musk and DOGE come look at judicial expenditures.’ Hello? You think that would spook Roberts a bit, and cause him to be concerned?”

The following week, Kris Kubal hosted right-wing activist Bill Federer, who floated conspiracy theories about John Roberts being compromised and blackmailed by some embarrassing information to explain why he hasn’t ruled in lockstep with Trump. Federer also suggested actions Congress could take to “uncreate” lower courts or strip them of jurisdiction. An IFA leader from Florida prayed that God would turn the hearts of judges or "remove" them, an echo of previousspiritual warriors' callsfor God to "remove" Supreme Court justices to give Trump more vacancies to fill.

Back in 2018, when Trump was close to choosing Brett Kavanaugh as his second Supreme Court nominee, Jauregui used an IFA prayer call to denounce Kavanaugh as a “usurper” and insist that Amy Coney Barrett was the one anointed by God. But a week later, after Trump had officially nominated Kavanaugh, IFA fell in line and mobilized support for his confirmation.

IFA is also active at the state level. The same IFA newsletter celebrating the group’s return to the White House also linked to an article about efforts by IFA leaders in South Carolina to decree a “divorce from Baal” and its “prayer and pronouncing separation from the roots of the Masonic for the State.”

Tony Perkins Calls GOP Platform Process ‘Despicable,’ Slams Chair Marsha Blackburn’s ‘Unbelievable’ and ‘Shocking’ Behavior

July 12, 2024 RWW

Right Wing Watch reported this week that members of the Republican Platform Committee were subjected to heavy-handed authoritarian tactics by the Trump RNC, which refused to allow any questioning of the candidate’s wishes. Rather than drafting and debating the platform in public, Trump’s team closed the doors, shut down debate, took away delegates’ phones, and intimidated them into rubber stamping the language wanted by the Trump campaign. Not surprisingly, that hasn’t gone over too well with some platform committee members.

On Thursday, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins used his Washington Watch show to slam the “despicable” and “disgusting” process and criticize the “heavy-handed” platform committee chairperson, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who apparently acted as the Trump team’s enforcer. She was “unbelievable,” said Perkins:

I mean, it was shocking. They allowed for no amendments or discussion before forcing a scripted vote. Now, this process done in secrecy behind closed doors, quite frankly, is unbecoming of a party that champions free speech and due process.

Ironically, the document itself calls for vigorous defense of free speech and the end of government censorship. Well, deprived of the opportunity to actually discuss this so called draft document and strengthen the weak platform that lacked the party’s historical stand for the unborn, there was a group of us delegates that have submitted a minority report to supplement the platform…

The delegates had a gag, basically a gag rule put on them, their phones taken. Media was not allowed in. So most people don’t know what happened in the room. But fortunately, I have a microphone, and I can tell you. It was despicable. It was disgusting. It was not befitting of a party that claims to be a defender of law and order, due process, and the freedom of speech—and certainly not a party that claims to protect the unborn.

A July 11 action alert from FRC criticized the “highly choreographed” and “unprecedented, tightly scripted process that allowed for no amendments or substantive debate before the vote.”

Perkins and his FRC colleagues aren’t the only ones angry about the process. “They rolled us,” outraged platform committee member Gail Ruzicka told Milwaukee’s WISN12News.

The language rammed through the platform committee is purposefully vague on issues like abortion and marriage. That way, the Trump campaign can send two different messages. Religious-right leaders loyal to the campaign can put the strongest anti-abortion spin on the language, while the campaign encourages headlines about a new “moderate” position to appeal to the majority of voters who don’t share the religious right’s anti-choice and anti-equality obsessions.

Still, the abandonment of more explicit language calling for constitutional bans on abortion and laws defining marriage as one man and one woman is rankling some religious-right leaders.

Perkins called the platform “woefully inadequate in communicating a definitive position on the protection of human life.” He complained that the last GOP platform recognized God 15 times, while the Trump version has just two “passing references” to God. And he noted that the platform contains no reference at all to the Second Amendment—“none, zero.”

Religious right activist Michael Brown complained this week that the platform language was so “watered down” that the GOP can no longer be viewed as “the party of life.” Brown warned that “allowing the platform to be weakened in the name of electoral pragmatism might signal a whole new wave of GOP candidates who are less committed to the pro-life cause but who are allegedly better than the Democrats.” He added, “It might also embolden current GOP congressmen to soften their own stances in the name of electability, thereby continuing to erode the GOP’s stance for life. In the end, there might be little to distinguish the two parties when it comes to abortion.” Brown continued:

My counsel would be that we do not take this new platform lying down, but do our best to work for a change until the last minute possible. If, in the end, we cannot bring change about, then we still work with the GOP for the moment while making it clear behind the scenes that the next GOP candidate will have to embrace our pro-life position — otherwise, they will not make it through the primaries.

Among other religious-right figures unhappy about the platform include former VP Mike Pence, Jason Rapert of the Christian nationalist National Association of Christian Lawmakers, and former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, who went dramatically for a maximalist position, posting, “You cannot be a faithful Christian and a faithful Republican after today.” Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission called it “political malpractice.” Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, called the platform changes an example of “cowardice.”

Anderson and his mentor Robert George—who has urged the Supreme Court to require all states to treat abortion as homicide—were among a group of anti-abortion activists who released a letter to GOP delegates Friday urging them to “vote down any platform that weakens the party’s pro-life stance.”

At the right-wing Christian outlet The Stream, John Zmirak slammed MAGA politicians and anti-abortion activists who have gone along with Trump:

It’s sickening to see previously pro-life politicians like Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance sell their souls for pennies on the dollar, then watch pro-life groups pretend the miserable half of a moldy loaf tossed to them by the Trump campaign is a wedding cake. It’s both morally repulsive and deeply humiliating.

As Right Wing Watch noted earlier this week, Trump’s team clearly calculated that religious-right activists have nowhere else to go. At The Stream, Zmirak demonstrated the thinking that Trump’s team is counting on. “We must yell our heads off now, try to bluff Trump and his lowbrow cronies into thinking we might sit the election out,” Zmirak wrote, but in the end religious-right voters would have to “quietly go ahead and vote in our own self-defense.”

Other religious-right activists who have worked hard to cement the relationship between conservative evangelicals and the Republican Party warn that even if very few of their constituents would ever vote for a Democratic candidate or sit the election out, many who feel betrayed may feel less motivated to make phone calls and knock on doors to turn out voters.

And maybe some of them, perhaps those who learn how Trump’s team treated his close allies on the platform committee, may be more open to warnings about Trump’s dictatorial tendencies, the authoritarian agenda of Project 2025, and the consequences of giving Trump power after the right-wing Supreme Court ruled that he is virtually immune from accountability for any crimes he commits as president.

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last Friday, the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh held a rally in Tennessee against gender-affirming care, a follow-up to his targeted misinformation campaign against Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. Footage from the rally, which included speeches from Walsh, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and other media figures and local politicians, shows that it attracted a cadre of extremists, including members of the violent Proud Boys extremist group and multiple protesters brandishing signs explicitly calling for violence against medical professionals. Following the rally, Walsh called the protesters “normal decent Americans” while Blackburn said she was “proud” to have participated.

Walsh, an opportunist who has committed himself to an anti-trans crusade, recently claimed to be “building a nationwide organized movement” to target hospitals and medical providers with harassment after helping to drive harassment against Boston Children’s Hospital. After the facility reported threats against doctors and staff, Walsh continued to target the facility, which later received more than one bomb threat. In September, Walsh targeted Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital with similar false claims and mischaracterizations of procedures offered to minors, falsely claiming the hospital would “castrate, sterilize, and mutilate minors as well as adults.”

The efficacy of gender-affirming medical care for trans youth, and the serious psychological risks of denying that care, have been shown by numerous studies, and such care is supported by every major medical organization in America.

Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital responded to Walsh by saying it did not provide gender-affirming genital surgeries for trans youth but would temporarily cease other gender-affirming surgeries for minors, despite such surgeries having very low rates of regret. Following the success of his targeting of Vanderbilt, Walsh announced the rally at the Tennessee state capitol on October 21, which was billed as “The Rally to End Child Mutilation.”

Walsh’s rally attracted extremists, some of whom explicitly called for violence against medical professionals

Leading up to the rally, Walsh, who has a history of promoting or defending political violence, continually targeting healthcare providers and the LGBTQ community, comparing doctors who provide gender-affirming care toNazis, calling for police to “[break] down the doors” of establishments hosting drag events, and tweeting he was “not just reporting” on the trans health clinic at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital but was “going to put a stop to it.”

Footage of the rally streamed by Walsh and local news outlets on YouTube showedmultiple attendees at Walsh’s rally directly calling for violence against doctors, with one attendee’s sign reading “Doctors who mutilate children should be killed.”

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the sign was visible at the front of the crowd for the duration of the rally, including during speeches by Walsh and Blackburn. The man holding the sign, who can be seen cheering for Matt Walsh during a speech byTea Party activist Matt Meckler,was also recorded by local media confronting counter-protesters before the rally yelling, “No mutilators, mutilators go home.”

Footage from alocal newscast of the event also captured an attendee positioned further back in the crowd holding a sign that said, “mutilate the mutilators.”

Following the bomb threat made against Boston Children’s Hospital, Walsh claimed that “no critic of gender ideology gains anything or has any incentive to make a threat.”

Footage from the rally also shows a number of members of the violent extremist group the Proud Boys, one of whom can be seen flashing a white nationalist hand signal as he passed counter protesters.

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the rally also attracted fringe Christian fundamentalists who held oversized signs declaring, “homo sex is sin,” and that “hellfire awaits” gay people and “baby killers.” Another protester near the front can be seen holding a sign declaring, “We are at war,” with the other side reading, “No justice, no peace, free the J6’ers,” referring to those arrested for participating in the January 6 insurrection.

Walsh and other speakers at the rally used incendiary language directing anger at medical professionals

In addition to Walsh, speakers at the rally included GOP state politicians from Tennessee, who earlier this year passed multiple anti-trans bills (helping to perpetuate mental health crisis among trans youth in the state), and Blackburn, who used the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to push anti-trans talking points. Other speakers included Tulsi Gabbard,Dr. Colin Wright, and Chloe Cole.

During the rally, Walsh engaged the crowd with incendiary language, asking the audience, “As Tennesseans, do we believe in castrating children? Do we believe in that? Do we believe in drugging and mutilating kids?” Walsh added, “They believe in it.” He continued, saying, “I'm not going to leave it to my kids to fight this fight. We don't leave it to our kids. We stand up and we fight. It isn't our kids’ battle,” before going on to characterize his “fight” as “a battle of good versus evil.”

In her speech, Blackburn directed the attention of the extremists in the crowd to Vanderbilt, saying Walsh and the Daily Wire did an “amazing job” targeting Vanderbilt, referencing “what was taking place just down the street right here in Nashville.” Later in her speech, Blackburn said she was going to “carry this movement to take care of our children, to end this child mutilation.” As she neared the end of her speech, Blackburn said, “Look, you all arehappy warrior freedom fighters, and you are not going to let the left get their way with our children.”

Vanderbilt’s proximity to the crowd’s location was also referenced by State Rep. William Lamberth (R-TN), who said during his speech, “If not for Matt and his team, a certain university medical center just down the road would still be performing child mutilation surgeries.”

Walsh and other speakers reacted to the rally by targeting counter protesters and lauding the anti-trans protesters

Immediately following the rally, Walsh, who last year called Kyle Rittenhouse a “victim” after Rittenhouse shot dead multiple people at a Black Lives Matter protest, tweeted a photo of the crowd where the sign calling for violence against doctors is visible, with Walsh simply captioning it, “We are winning.”

Blackburn tweeted after the rally that she was “proud to defend Tennessee kids from these dangerous procedures today.” Tulsi Gabbard wrote in her newly-launched Substack newsletter that there were “a handful of very noisy protesters who were there to support continued child mutilation” at the rally, but made no mention of those calling to murder doctors.

During his podcast on Monday, Walsh targeted the counter protesters at the event, calling them “satanic leftist zombies'' and “emotionally disturbed freaks and losers,” and claimed some of them were “of the paid variety.” Walsh contrasted them with his supporters.

In the end I have to be grateful that thedisgusting hellspawnsdid show up because it provided exactly the kind of contrast that I want people to see. On one hand, you have normal decent Americans of all ages and demographics speaking out against one of the great atrocities of our time, and on the other hand you have a bunch of screeching goblins who have no argument to present, no point to make, and are only interested in silencing the other side by whatever means necessary.So it's just up to each member of the public to decide whose side they want to be on. You see that footage, you decide, who do you want to line up with?

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Last week, United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) joined her fellow Republicans in a filibuster of the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (PACT) which seeks to expand healthcare services for veterans who were exposed to poisonous substances while serving.

On Monday, Blackburn explained in a speech on the floor of the Senate why she voted against the legislation.

"It is not my job to make [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer's [D-New York] life easier, or those running for election, their life easier. It is my job to be certain that I represent these veterans in Tennessee who have given their commitment to defend this nation," Blackburn said.

READ MORE: Veterans group slams GOP senators for delaying health benefits bill: We 'will hold them accountable'

"They have done it honorably," Blackburn said of servicemembers. "They have done it expecting from the V[eterans] A[dministration] for harms that have come their way and we should make certain that they have access to the care that they need."

According to disability lawyer Michael Hartup, "data from the HAC shows that7.4 percent of veterans in Tennessee live in poverty.The overall unemployment rate for veterans in the state is 4.7 percent, and younger veterans have higher unemployment rates than those from older generations."

Hartup's website notes that "housing is an issue for some Tennesse veterans. Approximately 56,920 veterans live in homes that have serious problems relating to cost, crowding, and/or quality. The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that there are 570 homeless veterans in Tennessee."

READ MORE: Watch: Video captures Ted Cruz fist-bumping Republicans after blocking bill to help vets suffering from toxic burn pits

Tennessee also ranks lowest among states with adequate access to healthcare.

The Rural Health Information Hub explains that "11.4% of Tennessee residents lack health insurance (Kaiser, 2020)." Overall, however, Tennessee is the 40th to 44th healthiest state out of 50, depending on the report being cited, The Tennesseanwrote in an analysis last year.

Watch below or at this link.

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Last night’s hearing, however, suggested one more layer.

A cover-up of the congressional coup.

READ MORE: Eighth January 6th hearing provided the 'starkest illustration' yet against Donald Trump: journalists

By the Congress.

Hinting hard

The goal appears to have been getting enough members of the US Congress to vote to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The GOP had a Senate majority at the time. They could have, in theory, overruled the will of the people, at least temporarily. Ultimately, however, just 147 Republicans, including eight senators, objected.

I don’t know, had they amassed enough votes in the Senate, where things would have gone after that. Perhaps it would have triggered the 12th Amendment. Perhaps it would have thrown the process back to red states that Joe Biden had won, where friendly Republican legislators would have fixed things so Trump could stay in office.

READ MORE: [Watch: Outtakes of Trump on January 7th — he can't say the election's over

In any case, the former president spent a lot of time talking about congressional Republicans and talking directly to congressional Republicans to such a degree as to suggest there was another layer of his grand seditious conspiracy that’s only now coming into light. That’s certainly what the J6 committee has been hinting hard at.

Co-conspirators?

Last week, the panel’s Stephanie Murphy saidTrump met in late December with US Reps. Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Brian Babin, Jody Hice, Louie Gohmert, Andy Harris, Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar, Scott Perry and Jim Jordan. Margaret Taylor Greenewas there. So were Mike Pence, Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani. (Seven of these members asked for pardons. Ditto Meadows, Giuliani and Greene.)

They tried getting the former vice president to go along with the conspiracy. It called for him to reject the count all by himself or send it back to the states where state GOP legislators were waiting.

Pence had refused before. I’m guessing those at the meeting expected him to again. He did. The next step was finalizing a scheme to bring tens of thousands of Trump loyalists to the capital, including armed paramilitaries (eg, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers), in order to terrify not only Pence but GOP senators into reinstalling Trump.

Terrifying GOP senators

According to the J6 committee’s Elaine Luria, Trump was told 15 minutes after returning to the White House after his speech on the Ellipse that the US Capitol was under siege by an armed mob. After the briefing, Luria said, Trump began calling GOP senators for the purpose of persuading them to overrule the results of the election.

On the one hand, the former president had insurgents sacking and looting the seat of government, threatening lawmakers with death – in Mike Pence’s case, with hanging from a makeshift gallows. (It was revealed last night that Pence’s Secret Service detail believed they were going to die. They sent messages of love to their families.) On the other, Trump pushed GOP senators by phone to get on board.

During that time, White House staffers tried and failed to persuade Trump to respond to the assault. (He did not issue orders to anyone, not the secretary of defense, the secretary of homeland security, the attorney general, no one.) Instead of telling them to go home, as staffers had hoped, he posted a tweet accusing Pence of betrayal.

After “pouring gasoline on the fire,” as witness Sarah Matthews said, the former president made more phone calls to Republican senators. Later that evening, after Trump had called for the insurgents to go home, Rudy Giuliani made even more calls to Republican senators.

Indeed, the J6 committee’s Adam Kinzinger named them. They were: Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz,Marsha Blackburn, Bill Hagerty, Tommy Tuberville and Lindsey Graham. Of that number,only three voted to overturn the results of the election: Cruz, Tuberville and Hawley.

The cover-up

Giuliani also called US Rep. Jim Jordan.

Jordan, as I wrote last week, was nominated to serve on the initial select committee to investigate J6. Speaker Nancy Pelosi vetoed his nomination, though. Good thing she did. The current committee would have been compromised by the presence of a congressman who was a serial witness to the serial crimes under investigation.

Jordan was nominated by Kevin McCarthy. As the J6 committee reminded us last night, the House minority leader talked to Trump after the attack. He said Trump said he had “some responsibility” for J6. McCarthy said he told Trump that the House Democrats were likely to pass an impeachment resolution and that he should resign.

Trump didn’t resign, of course.

Perhaps the fix was in.

Implication by omission

Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the J6 committee, reminded us that the committee’s work goes on. Hearings will resume in September, she said. Then the Wyoming congresswoman used some curious math:

Today, we know far more about the president’s plans and actions to overturn the election than almost all members of Congress did when President Trump was impeached on January 13, 2021, or when he was tried by the Senate in February of that year.

Fifty-seven of 100 senators voted to convict President Trump at that time, and more than 20 others said they were voting against conviction, because the president's term had already expired.

Cheney said “almost all,” I think, because a dozen GOP members had been deeply involved in or material witnesses to Trump’s conspiracy.

She said “57 of 100,” I think, because it takes 67 senators to remove and convict a president. She said “more than 20 others,” because she’s apparently giving these GOP senators the benefit of the doubt.

But that still leaves around 20 unaccounted for. Why?

Perhaps because some, or all, of these 20 or so Republican senators had been in contact with the former president as the insurrection was unfolding and therefore potential co-conspirators in the crime.

Perhaps because some, or all, of these 20 or so Republican senators voted against conviction, thus taking steps to cover up the crime.

In any case, it was implication by omission.

The appearance of a conspiracy

We know at least six of them were evidently in both camps. On the evening of J6, Rudy Giuliani called Blackburn, Hawley, Cruz, Hagarty, Tuberville and Graham hoping they would object to the vote count. (Three did.) This same group voted to acquit Trump of treason.

If that’s not a rigged outcome, it sure looks like one.

Liz Cheney seemed to be inviting us to put the former president’s second impeachment trial in light of what we know now.

She seemed to be asking us to consider what it means when at least a dozen sitting members of the House were material witnesses as well as grand jury members deciding on an indictment (impeachment).

She seemed to be asking us to see that at least six of those Senators were materially involved in a crime of which they sat in judgment.

If that’s not a conspiracy, it sure as hell looks like one.

READ MORE:Video shows Josh Hawley running to evade the rioters he had earlier praised

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Texas Congresswoman is the latest Republican to brag about infrastructure improvements she voted against

United States Representative Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) speaking at the 2021 Young Women's Leadership Summit, hosted by Turning Point USA at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas (Gage Skidmore).

Alex Henderson

July 07, 2022

When President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill into law in November 2021, the members of Congress who took a victory lap included centrist Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina — both of whom played a key role in the negotiations. But many GOP members of Congress, anxious to show how MAGA they were, opposed the bill and attacked it as “socialism.”

One of the bill’s critics was Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Texas. Van Duyne voted against it, but on July 7, she bragged about new funding for the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport — funding coming from the infrastructure bill she opposed in 2021:

Journalist Jamie Dupree called out Van Duyne’s hypocrisy, tweeting:

READ MORE: Marsha Blackburn slammed for confusing the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence

But Van Duyne is hardly the only Republican who railed against the infrastructure package only to turn around and take advantage of it.

In Tennessee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn attacked the bill as a “gateway to socialism,” and Tennessee Republicans serving in the U.S. House of Representatives joined her in attacking it. But Tennessee hasn’t cut itself off from federal funding.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has been angrily railing against the Biden Administration’s economic policies — only to brag about the millions of dollars in federal stimulus money being used in his state. On May 17, the Orlando Sun-Sentinel’s Jeffrey Schweers reported, “Gov. Ron DeSantis has been on a spending spree for months, taking credit for millions of dollars in federal stimulus money he’s handing out to mostly rural Republican counties while at the same time, bashing President Biden’s big government spending. Federal bucks have bolstered the state budget for two years in a row, shoring up the state’s reserves, and funding such things as the governor’s job growth program, climate ‘resiliency’ against rising waters, road projects, broadband expansion, college training programs and tax cuts.”

In a January 25 op-ed for MSNBC’s MaddowBlog, journalist Steve Benen called out some of the Republicans who opposed the infrastructure bill only to brag when they used funding from it — a list that includes Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia, Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama, Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa and Rep. Kay Granger of Texas.

READ MORE: ‘The epitome of hypocrisy’: Ron DeSantis 'bashes' POTUS' tax policies while reaping the benefits

}:

==

twiteratti vs base? also conflates const and b or r meh

United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennesee) tried to smear Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson – President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee – on Monday evening and it backfired spectacularly.

"Joe Biden’s historic nominee to the Supreme Court can’t even define what a woman is," Blackburn tweeted, referring to a question that she asked Jackson during last week's Senate confirmation hearings. It was but one snippet of a line of inquiry that was widely ridiculed as demeaning and pointless.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/blackburn/

word salad rant transphobe

also bad Ketanji justice hearings?

4/22 edit bd

I don’t follow what every Democrat says. No one can. There’s no way for me to know whether the tenor and tone of their collective rhetoric changed last week. But it felt like it got stronger, sharper and angrier.

Consider Brian Schatz.

The Hawaii Senator took to the Senate floor to scorch his colleague Josh Hawley of Missouri, who’s been holding up appointments to the Department of Defense that are necessary to America’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Before he signs off, he said, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin must resign for his “failures” in Afghanistan.

Schatz said that’s rich coming from a guy who raised his fist in solidarity with the J6 insurrectionists and who voted to acquit the former president for the high crime of extorting Ukraine’s president.

“This comes from a guy who before the Russian invasion suggested that maybe it would be wise for [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to make a few concessions about Ukraine and their willingness to join NATO.”

He added:

“They withheld lethal aid until, unless Zelenskyy released false smears against Joe Biden's son. Then [Hawley] voted to exonerate President Trump for this. So spare me the new solidarity with the Ukrainians and with the free world, because this man's record is exactly the opposite.”

His tirade amazed those of us longing for the Democrats to take a strong stand against the Republican Party’s lies and bad faith. Perhaps we’ll see more now that Greg Sargent put a brighter light on it.

The Post columnist interviewed Brian Schatz on Friday. “Democrats need to make more noise,” the Senator conceded. “We have to scream from the rooftops because this is a battle for the free world now.”

Let’s not forget what Schatz said, however.

He said Hawley is “doing a very specific thing.”

“He is damaging the Department of Defense.”

So far, Schatz is the only Democrat seeing what needs seeing.

Though he says he’s outraged by the US pullout from Afghanistan, Josh Hawley is also attacking, directly, the military leadership itself. (He won’t move on appointments until the secretary of defense resigns.)

Demanding Austin’s resignation is not a “reasonable request,” Schatz said. It can’t be. The point is sabotaging civilian control of the military.

You read that right.

The point is cleaving the ranks. The point is to create conditions in which military personnel feel inspired to take action that’s favorable to the Republicans’ (perhaps the former president’s) return to power.

They are picking up where the J6 insurrection left off. But next time, it won’t be a mob of schlubs. It will be an army of highly-trained insurgents bent on restoring whiteness to the center of the republic.

At gunpoint.

Everyone should see what Schatz sees.

So I interviewed Fred Wellman, founder of Beer Hall Projectand a 20-year Army veteran who served when Secretary Austin was General Austin. I called Fred after US Rep. Matt Gaetz failed to humiliate the secretary in testimony before the House Arms Services Committee.

Fred said: “A standing army can’t be a tool of a political party. Under the Trump years, it became more partisan. Now Matt Gaetz and his peers in the Republican Party are directly undermining the apolitical and nonpolitical nature of the military by dividing troops from leaders.”

Matt Gaetz and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Thoughts?

My main frustration has always been with the “performance wing” of the Republican Party. They don’t want to govern. They want to act.

In this case, Matt Gaetz tried convincing people that “wokeism,” or trying to get a more diverse American military force, is hurting our ability to fight wars. It shows how monumentally stupid he is.

He's dragging culture wars into national defense. That he does so while sitting on the House Armed Service Committee is outrageous.

It’s a committee responsible for oversight of the men and women in uniform, but it’s oversight partially provided by someone as monumentally asinine as Matt Gaetz – that’s just disgusting to me.

Good point. When a country sends people overseas, the presumption should be that leaders will take that responsibility deadly seriously. Deadly serious responsibility is the opposite of Matt Gaetz.

I'm a 20-year Army veteran. I rose through the ranks to be a lieutenant colonel. I retired after Desert Storm and three Iraq tours. I’m the son of a World War II Marine veteran. My son is an Army veteran. My son-in-law continues to serve in the National Guard.

But not everybody can serve.

Less than 7 percent of our nation is veterans. Less than 1 percent serve at all. Less than one-third of the eligible population is capable of serving. I'm talking about fitness, criminal record, mental health, etc. This is the reality of maintaining and growing an all-volunteer force.

That's the point of trying to increase the diversity of the officer corps. That's the point of trying to increase the diversity of the pilot corps. That's the point of welcoming all races and creeds. As Secretary Austin said, anybody who's eligible, who has the capability to serve, should be welcomed even if they're non-binary, gay, straight, whatever.

If they're capable of serving, of meeting the physical and mental requirements we need in our military, we've got to open our arms.

There are just not enough white dudes left.

When you have someone like the Florida congressman directly attacking that, that turns away possible recruits. Gaetz is literally undermining those who serve and who may serve in the future.

Sounds like you’re angry?

I amangry.

The Matt Gaetzs andMarsha Blackburns of the world are openly undermining good order and military discipline with a culture war for political effect. A representative sitting on the Armed Services Committee should understand the challenges of an all-volunteer force.

Civilian oversight of the military matters even though those civilians may never have served, may not have been qualified to serve. People like me, people like Secretary Austin – we understand that. Someone who rose to the rank of four-star understands he’s going to answer to some 25-year-old kid on the Armed Services Committee.

That's the nature of it.

But what frustrates me is the lack of respect for the office and a lack of respect for the military as an apolitical and non-political entity.

One of the biggest fears of our founding fathers was a standing army. They didn't want one and that undermined efforts early on in the republic because of rebellions. We had no army to address them.

Even Washington was like, man, we need an army.

A standing army can’t be a tool of a political party. Under the Trump years, it became more partisan. Now Matt Gaetz and his peers in the Republican Party are directly undermining the apolitical and nonpolitical nature of the military by dividing troops from leaders.

The troops love Trump, they believe, but the troops are being failed by “woke” leaders. Where the fuck do you think the leaders are? You don't just magically make a general. Secretary Austin started as a fucking second lieutenant. He rose through the ranks. This is dangerous.

I do not say this lightly.

This is incredibly dangerous.

They attack the military leadership as“woke”because they're trying to cause a break in the ranks. They're literally undermining good order and military discipline deliberately to break the chain of command.

I've never seen that in my lifetime.

You’re describing national security risk. Is that overstating it?

No, I don't think so.

The very nature of our republic relies on an apolitical military every American knows serves them, no matter their race, creed, religion, color, region, political party, whatever. Our republic depends on everyone knowing a standing army is not a threat to the country.

Many in the Republican Party are super-fans of Putin, let's be honest.They're having CPAC in Hungary, for God's sake, a country led by a rightwing dictator, a Putin fan. Imagine a scenario in which they’re in power and we can't fight because they’ve undermined the military.

It's terrifying to think where this could go.

I've seen reports of white nationalism gaining traction in the ranks of the military. There's an effort from above to deal with that.

I learned in military science 101 at West Point that an all-volunteer force is a direct reflection of our society. You raised your children for 18 years before they get into the military. I give them 12 weeks of basic training. That won’t overcome 18 years of raising them as racists.

All I can do is ensure they don't act on those beliefs and undermine good order and military discipline. If they do behave inappropriately, we use the separate military system to discipline them appropriately and remove them from the military as they're no longer a threat.

But we do know white nationalist and patriot front-type groups have been actively sending “their troops,” if you will, into the military for military training. Right-wing nationalist groups are infiltrating the ranks and recruiting veterans after they get out of the military.

At one point,10 percent of Jan6 cases were United States military and veterans. One of them is an active-duty Marine Corps major!

How horrifying that is.

Talk about the fundamental tension between universal values, like honor, and individual interest, like investment in whiteness.

Some really extreme right-wing politicians say universal values are an attack on conservative thought. It's not against conservative thought.

Conservative thought should mean taxes and “pulling up my bootstraps and raising myself up by going into the military” – that's fine.

Saying Black people are inferior soldiers, assaulting the ranks, inciting homophobia and transphobia and attacking fellow service members – That’s not conservative. That’s extremism, white nationalism.

That needs to be stomped out.

There have been several surveys of service members saying the biggest threat they face isn’t Muslim terrorists. It’s extremism in the ranks....

{{{

oct 2019

Nancy Pelosi has announced that the House will finally hold a formal vote dictating the rules for the impeachment inquiry, six weeks after it was launched by a whistleblower’s complaint mysteriously withheld from Congress. And on Tuesday, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman backed up both the initial whistleblower and U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor by testifying that he too was concerned about the Trump administration’s push to use congressionally-allocated military aid to Ukraine to coerce an investigation into Joe Biden.

Congressional Republicans have long since stopped defending Trump on the merits since shortly after the White House released a transcript of a July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Instead, they’ve sought refuge in increasingly meaningless process arguments. So of course Pelosi agreeing to a formal vote on the rules of impeachment hasn’t stopped Republican complaints about the process. The goalposts will shift once again. No matter what the Democrats agree to, Republicans will complain about procedural unfairness and also refuse to concede the inquiry is legitimate. But how much of Republicans’ unwillingness to hold Trump accountable for his self-dealing is because they're in on it?

On Monday the Washington Post published an interview with a Ukrainian diplomat who claimed to have met with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., this summer to discuss the baseless conspiracy theory promoted by President Trump that Ukrainian officials had interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

Johnson reportedly met with Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenko for at least 30 minutes on Capitol Hill in July, and Telizhenko then met with Johnson’s Senate staff for five additional hours. According to the report, “the discussions focused in part on ‘the DNC issue’ — a reference to his unsubstantiated claim that the Democratic National Committee worked with the Ukrainian government in 2016 to gather incriminating information about then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Telizhenko said he could not recall the date of the meeting, but a review of his Facebook page revealed a photo of him and Johnson posted on July 11.”

Johnson is a vocal Trump defender who has hounded the inspector general of the intelligence community about investigating media leaks regarding the Ukraine call. He has previously admitted that he was told by Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, that Ukraine needed to "get to the bottom of what happened in 2016" in order to receive military aid.

As Johnson told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month, after Sondland told him that, he was assured "if President Trump has that confidence" that the Ukrainians would do his bidding, "then he'll release the military spending." Now, as the Post points out, Johnson's "knowledge of key events" in the case may "complicate his role as a juror in a trial by the Senate."

Recall that when Johnson was asked about his defense of Trump’s actions, he snapped at the simple question from NBC News’ Chuck Todd and spun out the same deep state conspiracy theory pushed by the likes of Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

Beyond his apparent involvement in Trump’s Ukraine dealings, Johnson is alleged to have benefited from campaign money illegally funneled from Russia via shell corporations owned by the National Rifle Association, which helped him win his tight 2016 race in Wisconsin.

Political action committees for Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham reportedly accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 election. McConnell and Graham are co-sponsors of a new resolution condemning the House impeachment inquiry. At least 50 Senate Republicans, several of whom have refused to publicly comment on the growing Ukraine scandal — citing a need to remain impartial for a likely Senate impeachment trial — have already signed onto that bill. The resolution is currently paused in the Senate Rules Committee until the House votes on impeachment rules later this week.

As House Democrats’ investigation has rapidly unveiled ever more damaging material regarding Trump’s Ukraine scandal, public support for impeachment has shot up. Reportedly nervous about his wall of defense in the Senate crumbling, the president recently hosted several GOP senators at the White House, including top Johnson, Graham, John Thune of South Dakota and John Kennedy of Louisiana, last week. A day earlier, Thune and Kennedy, had blocked a Democratic bill to provide funding for states to shore up election security. The next day, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., quietly blocked three election-security bills for the second time this year.

“You know, it’s not a good sign if you’re doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result," Blackburn said on the Senate floor late last week. She is among the Republican senators with close ties to a U.S.-sanctioned Russian politician who is accused of illegally channeling Russian funds through the NRA. Under Senate rules, any individual senator can block a vote on a bill.

When Senate Republicans are not prematurely dismissing an impeachment inquiry on which they will probably have to render judgment, they continue to protect Trump’s refusal to clamp down on potential election interference. If Republican charges of a "kangaroo court" are anything, they are a classic case of projection: How can Senate Republicans possibly serve as impartial jurors in a trial of the president, when they are implicated in the same pattern of political malfeasance?

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's Deputy Politics Editor and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

ref

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nra-at-center-of-new-lawsuit-against-the-federal-election-commission/2019/04/24

ref wapo

Politics

NRA at center of new lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission

By Colby Itkowitz

April 24, 2019

President Trump speaks May 4 at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Dallas. (Susan Walsh/AP)

An anti-gun-violence organization founded by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Federal Election Commission for failing to take action against the National Rifle Association for alleged campaign finance violations.

The lawsuit charges that the federal agency did nothing when confronted with repeated complaints by Giffords and the Campaign Legal Center accusing the NRA of using shell corporations to donate more than the legal amount to seven federal candidates, including President Trump, and to coordinate with their campaigns without disclosing it....

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/gop-lawmakers-face-barrage-of-questions-over-viral-russian-ad/

[vid]

an 322

Republican Party is being labeled as the "Party of Treason” in a new, scathing political ad chronicling all that has transpired since Russia invaded Ukraine.

According to HuffPost, the ad was released by Really American, a progressive political action committee (PAC). The video highlights Independence Day 2018 when several Republican lawmakers' traveled to Moscow to visit the Kremlin.

With the video, the PAC tweeted, "A day after the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russia interfered in our elections, 8 Republicans flew to Russia for a photo-op. Now they're blaming Biden for the invasion of Ukraine while repeating Kremlin talking points."

Although the trip was reportedly intended to address Russian interference, the video notes that Sen.Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), "downplayed said established threat just days later."[twt]

the video's narrator posed a number of compelling questions to Republican lawmakers asking: "why Republicans have 'consistently taken' the side of Russian President Vladimir Putin by, among other things, voting to block election security bills and backing Donald Trump for threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden, misconduct that led to the first impeachment of the former president."

The narrator concluded by saying, “Putin has shown his goal is to destabilize Western democracy from Ukraine to the U.S. We can’t allow his puppets to sink their claws deeper into our government.”

In just a short period of time, the video has gone viral. Since its release on Thursday, March 10, it has received more than 850,000 views as it continues to circulate on social media.

[ron j, shelby, moran, daines, thune, kay granger, john kennedy hoeven

#partyoftraitors

ref 2

... GOP is slammed as the “#PartyOfTreason” in a new viral ad from progressive PAC Really American.

The group’s spot recalls the visit to the Kremlin that eight Republican lawmakers controversially made on Independence Day in 2018,

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/06/626664156/gop-senators-spend-july-4-in-moscow no names ] a day after the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

https://nrawatch.org/case/improper-campaign-spending/

}}}

an 2 22

dunno is this is gonna have legs/meme

no lnx

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn has a hold on a stopgap continuing resolution that must pass by Friday if the federal government is to avoid a costly and dangerous shutdown. The Tennessee Republican, a peddler of conspiracy theories and far right-wing extremism, falsely insists that an HHS program includes $30 million in federal funds to buy “crack pipes” for drug abusers.

Politico co-congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett Monday afternoon reports Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “says he’s working on scheduling the continuing resolution, which must pass by Feb. 18 to avoid shutdown. He has not filed cloture on it yet, hoping to work it out with Sen. Blackburn, who wants reassurances HHS isn’t handing out crack pipes.”

The “free crack pipes” claim, which exploded across the country last week thanks to a false report from the right-wing outlet Washington Free Beacon, has been thoroughly debunked by The Washington Post and other investigative outlets, but the GOP is refusing to let the falsehoods die.

“It’s amazing to us that they continue to ignore this issue, and they continue to say they are fighting drugs when indeed they’re enabling drugs,” Blackburn told Newsmax on Monday.

Congress will have to jump through several hoops to avoid Blackburn’s shutdown, given how late in the process they are. The House, which has already passed its bill to avert the shutdown, would have to again pass another bill, the Senate’s which Blackburn is blocking.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram:

It’s clear for Blackburn the issue isn’t the crack pipes, which are not and by law cannot be included in the HHS program.Blackburn has repeatedly voted in favor of shutting the federal government down, which she did by voting against continuing resolutions in December 2021 and September 2020.

senator’s unhinged rant on Build Back Better plan shows how desperate GOP is to stop it

Aldous Pennyfarthing DailyKos

October 04, 2021

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) appeared "exclusively" on Fox Business' Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo this week to weigh in on Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion Build Back Better [human infra...]

721

no lnx long twt

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has started another fire taking aim, yet again, at pop singer Taylor Swift. Speaking to the right-wing media outlet Breitbart, the Republican lawmaker "criticized the left for making country music "woke," according to Insider.

Blackburn also insisted entertainers like the "Shake it Off" singer would suffer in aMarxist, socialist-driven society. "If we have a socialistic government, if we have Marxism, you are going to be the first ones who will be cut off because the state would have to approve your music," she said.

"When you look at Marxist socialistic societies, they do not allow women to dress or sing or be on stage or to entertain or the type of music she would have," Blackburn said. "They don't allow protection of private intellectual property rights."

She added, "Taylor Swift came after me in my 2018 campaign, but Taylor Swift would be the first victim."

Blackburn's latest remarks follow Swift's criticism of the lawmaker. In an Instagram post shared in 2018, Swift noted Blackburn's voting record as she explained why she would not support her.

"As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn," Swift wrote at the time.

"Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values."

Back in 2020, Swift also took a subliminal jab at Blackburn during her Netflix documentary "Miss Americana." Sharing her reaction to Blackburn's Senate victory, Swift said, "She gets to be the first female senator in Tennessee, andshe's Trump in a wig."

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what fresh hell wacky bs 621 an

internet slams Marsha Blackburn for graphic attacking infrastructure bill: 'Are these supposed to be bad?'

David Badash The New Civil Rights Movement

April 08, 2021

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is continuing her agenda of actively attacking everything Democrats do, to the point she is becoming like a more experienced Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert.

==

an 121

...(The satirical news site The Onion deftly handled this, calling out each of the 126 with an individualized message. To Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida, "You have been absolutely fearless when stopping the American people from participating in elections;" to Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, "Never again will we allow U.S. citizens to recklessly turn in their ballots;" to Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, "Thank you for bravely standing up to the American voters;" and so on. Each was accompanied by an especially beguiling photo of a maggot.)

Many of those same members and more—some 140—are now lending their names to the smoke-and-mirrors effort in Congress to challenge the votes of the Electoral College, which already has given the election to Joe Biden. The votes of the electors officially are to be announced on Wednesday by Vice President Mike Pence in his capacity as President of the Senate.

In normal times, this would be a mere formality, but Trump and Republicans have decided to turn it into a clumsy attempt at a coup d'etat, ignoring the rule of law and numerous court rulings. They're putting on an act, trying to overturn the results of a free and fair election as a dumbshow of power, all out of fear of Tin Hat Trump's "base" of voters and to preserve a status quo that ignores the diversity of America, cossets the rich and fosters hate, poverty and inequality.

In the House, the leaders of this effort include the feckless Louie Gohmert of Texas, known as "America's craziest and dumbest congressman." Having just had an election lawsuit thrown out by a Federal appeals court on New Year's Day, he went on Newsmax suggesting that the alternative now is going to the streets and "being as violent as antifa and BLM."

He's joined in this mad pursuit—simultaneously dumbing down and radicalizing a significant portion of the party and American populace—by the usual suspects, led by Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama and including Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, Jody Hice of Georgia and Joe Wilson of South Carolina. New members of the House are piping up, too, including QAnon queen Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

On the Senate side, opposition to finalizing the presidential result is being led by Josh Hawley of Missouri, a man of vaulting ambition who wants to be president so badly he's is willing to violate his sworn oath of office and destroy the Constitution and Bill of Rights to get there, using conspiracy theories and falsehoods to oil his way into the White House as early as 2024.

In a letter published Saturday, eleven other Republican senators and senators-elect demanded an "emergency 10-day audit" of results in "the disputed states,"—in other words, the states Trump is shocked—shocked!—that he lost to Joe Biden, states he assumed would be a cinch for him. They weren't.

Remember their names:

Ted Cruz (Texas)

Ron Johnson (Wisconsin)

James Lankford (Oklahoma)

Steve Daines (Montana)

John Kennedy (Louisiana)

Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee)

Mike Braun (Indiana)

Cynthia Lummis (Wyoming) (new senator)

Roger Marshall (Kansas) (new senator)

Bill Hagerty (Tennessee) (new senator)

Tommy Tuberville (Alabama) (new senator)

Sadly, this Dirty Dozen (including Hawley), a so-called "Sedition Caucus" in the Senate, probably won't be deterred by news of that phone call Trump made to Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, trying to bully him into finding more votes to change the result in the state from Biden to Trump—a conversation much like the one with Ukraine President Zelensky that a year ago got Donald Trump impeached.

Trump's impeachment didn't lead to conviction by the Senate, thanks to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who would brook no new evidence or witnesses, turning the trial into a sham with a predetermined outcome. But McConnell now is opposed to his colleagues' efforts to subvert the Electoral College. Why? Because McConnell is all about the raw power he alone holds in the Senate. He cares for that and little else except, of course, tax cuts for the superrich, holding rules and regulations at bay and getting as many conservative Federal judges approved by the Senate as quickly as he can.

...

https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/gop-sens-ron-johnson-and-marsha-blackburn-are-tied-to-russian-money-and-trump-conspiracy-theories-theyre-not-alone/

tenn free press

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/opinion/times/story/2018/jul/30/sohn-nras-russilink-hties-blackburn/475893/

Tennesseans know the old truism: If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

The universal meaning is simple: Be careful of the company you keep.

Ask Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn.

Since March, she has been reading more and more headlines and stories that link her longtime friend and former campaign president, attorney G. Kline Preston IV, to the NRA/Maria Butina Russian money and election meddling questions.

The Tennessean has reported that in addition to representing Blackburn on campaign finance questions, Preston has claimed Alexander Torshin as a Russian client and longtime friend. Torshin is the prominent Russian politician with close ties to President Vladimir Putin who is now under scrutiny for illegally channeling Russian funds through the National Rifle Association in an effort to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. According to the Tennessean, Preston first introduced Torshin to then-president of the NRA David Keene in 2011, and the pair attended the NRA's annual convention in Nashville in 2015.

Blackburn, a U.S. House of Representatives member since 2002 and now a Tennessee Senate candidate seeking Bob Corker's open seat, is a longtime NRA supporter and recipient of at least $34,700 in NRA donations, according to opensecrets.com, which tracks campaign donations. According to the Washington Post, Blackburn received the most NRA money since 2002 of any Tennessee Congress member. As in most campaign finance snapshots, that total listed for her includes only donations, not any possible expenditures by the NRA to oppose her challengers.

But by widening the lens, the NRA money picture gets a bit darker. The NRA spent $30 million on Trump's campaign in 2016 and another $40 million in various efforts to lobby and help elect Republicans, according to a recent New Republic report.

Now the arrest of Maria Butina, an alleged Russia spy who is said to have infiltrated the National Rifle Association, has turned up the heat on the NRA, Preston and Blackburn. Butina's indictment charging her with conspiring to influence American politics means further scrutiny into the NRA and its money trail. Although that investigation seems now primarily to be focused on the 2016 presidential election, the probe's fallout already is complicating the campaigns of Trump-clinging Republicans such as Blackburn, who also took NRA money and continues to court the NRA's support.

A spokeswoman for Blackburn in March declined to answer specific Tennessean questions about Preston's work for the campaign or his relationship with Blackburn or her family members. The Tennessean, however, quoted a very general statement from the campaign: "Congressman Blackburn believes Russia is not our friend — and thinks we need to treat Russia like any bully: we need to be strong enough to prevent them from pushing the United States and our allies around, and we need to draw firm lines and show them that America is not to be trifled with."[vote 3x ~ cyber security for elections?!]

After Vice President Mike Pence appeared at a Chattanooga fundraiser for Blackburn last weekend, the Tennessee Democratic Party raised new questions, as reported by WRCB:

"Going back to her 2007 meeting with Russian diplomat Igor Matveev, Marsha Blackburn has a more than decade-long history of meeting with Russian nationals on Tennessee soil. In 2012, she met with accused spy master Alexander Torshin when he visited Williamson County — her home county — as an election observer, squired by her former campaign president, attorney, and friend G. Kline Preston IV. Blackburn's actions speak much louder than her words," said Democratic Party spokesman Mark Brown.

Blackburn spokeswoman Abbi Sigler responded to WRCB: "Marsha never had a meeting with the second individual," according to WRCB.

On Monday, Washington Post conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin, who avidly opposes Donald Trump, quoted from the Tennessean story and wrote that "Republicans who were chummy with Russia-connected figures" are about to become an issue in Tennessee's U.S. Senate race.

"Blackburn spent last week furiously trying to distance herself from Trump's Helsinki comments," Rubin wrote. "But if the issue comes down to who will hold Trump accountable on Russia and take oversight of Russia's far-flung influence racket seriously, Blackburn will find herself playing defense."

Rubin noted that recurrent mass shootings and NRA rants have reminded Americans that the organization "has become a refuge for conspiracy theories and far-right extremism. Now the Russia story and the Butina indictment raise the question of why the GOP is in bed with a group the Russians allegedly used to meddle with our elections — and whether money Republicans took is tainted by the NRA's Russia connection."

Blackburn's campaign did not respond Friday to a Times editorial page editor's request for a more timely and specific comment. However, on Sunday, the campaign sent us the same statement we noted here earlier — the one she gave to the Tennessean last March.

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https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/latest-senate-hearing-social-media-bias-was-just-another-example-right-wingers-working

parker m

On Wednesday, the Senate commerce committee held a hearing about content moderation on social media platforms, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were called as witnesses. The hearing was ostensibly about possible reform to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, but the goal of the Republican senators who called it was clearly to influence how these platforms enforce their policies in the days leading up to and following next week’s elections.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) went so far as to promote the hearing like some type of boxing match between himself (“the free speech champion”) and Dorsey (“the czar of censorship”), and he used his speaking time to berate the CEO for their content moderation policies.

The hearing served as a public forum for conservatives to work the refs, accusing these platforms of having anti-conservative bias in an effort to spur more favorable treatment. Of course, there isn’t actually anti-conservative bias on social media platforms -- quite the opposite, actually.

A new nine-month Media Matters study of Facebook pages posting political content found that right-leaning pages outperformed left-leaning and politically neutral pages in the number of average weekly interactions they accrued. Studies published in August 2019, April 2019, and July 2018 found similar disparities or equal performance. Past studies of Facebook have found that conservative pages dominate liberal and neutral pages on topics including abortion, immigration, and transgender issues, as well. While Zuckerberg may deny that Facebook is a “right-wing echo chamber,” his belief isn’t supported by the facts.

In fact, Zuckerberg has made repeated overtures to the right when conservatives claim to be the victims of bias on the platform. Zuckerberg hired lifelong Republican operatives to head global policy and election policy initiatives, and earlier this year he hired a former Fox & Friends senior producer to head video strategy for Facebook News. A February Washington Post report outlined some of the many ways Zuckerberg has tried to appease conservatives, which included the torpedoing of a plan to address fake news websites, the politically motivated inclusion of Breitbart in its news tab program, and meetings with the likes of Corey Lewandowski, Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck, and a bevy of conservative commentators in 2016.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg talks regularly with White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and has built a relationship with Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro, whose content happens to be some of the most shared on the entire platform. That same Wall Street Journal report showed that Facebook’s actions to help conservatives had the effect of reducing traffic to left-leaning outlets like Mother Jones.

Even with all of this evidence showing how Facebook supports them, conservatives still play the role of victims. It will never, ever be good enough for them.

“What we are watching -- the militarization of social media on behalf of Democrats, and the overt suppression of material damaging to Democrats to the cheering of the press -- is one of the single most dangerous political moments I have ever seen,” Shapiro wrote on Twitter, seemingly oblivious to the way social media companies promote his content at the expense of liberal articles.

Evidence of anti-conservative bias is always thin, based on faulty comparisons, or just outright false. During the hearing, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) brought up a recent Media Research Center report that claimed that Trump was “censored” 65 times on social media. This was a particularly weak and easily debunked point, and it goes to show just how much of a reach conservatives are making when they claim to be the victims of bias.

Conservatives have called tech CEOs in front of Congress over and over and over and over, usually under the guise of an anti-trust hearing or a chance to comment on reforming Section 230. But they’re clearly interested only in trying to coerce these companies into giving them an advantage.

related

sinclair national reporters have repeatedly pushed right-wing lies about supposed social media platform bias

10/27/20 4:47 PM EDT

A new study finds that Facebook is not censoring conservatives despite their repeated attacks

10/28/20 10:17 AM EDT

Some pro-gun Facebook pages are fearmongering about mass violence from the left after the election

10/26/20 11:44 AM EDT

https://www.mediamatters.org/2020-supreme-court-nomination/right-wing-media-lash-out-after-sen-sheldon-whitehouse-exposes-dark

right-wing media lash out after Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse exposes the dark money network in the courts

Their response is to call him a conspiracy theorist — while trying to connect him to George Soros

WRITTEN BY ERIC KLEEFELD

PUBLISHED 10/13/20

During Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) delivered a presentation on the undisclosed dark money groups coordinating to push a partisan Republican agenda through the court system, including past and present efforts to throw out the Affordable Care Act. In response, right-wing personalities on Twitter dismissed Whitehouse as a conspiracy theorist — with this critique coming from notorious conspiracy theorists themselves.

Whitehouse described how multiple groups will file amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases — though they are actually funded by the same outlets, including a group called Donors Trust that Whitehouse called “a gigantic identity-scrubbing device for the right wing.”

Whitehouse’s speech relied heavily on a 2019 Washington Post report which outlined the links between right-wing legal organization the Federalist Society and the right-wing political organization Judicial Crisis Network via fundraiser Leonard Leo — with the nominally separate organizations actually based out of the same hallway of a building in downtown Washington, D.C.

“This more and more looks like it's not three schemes — but it's one scheme,” said Whitehouse, ”with the same funders selecting judges, funding campaigns for the judges, and then showing up in court in these orchestrated amicus flotillas to tell the judges what to do."

[vid?

one of the most prominent right-wing media figures to criticize Whitehouse was Mollie Hemingway, a Fox News contributor and senior editor at the right-wing online outlet The Federalist — an organization which is itself famously opaque on its own funding.

Hemingway is hardly the ideal person, however, to be calling somebody else a conspiracy theorist. When multiple sources corroborate a story damaging to President Donald Trump, she has a pattern of often declaring that this corroboration is really the result of a coordinated conspiracy by those sources to be lying in synchronization with each other.

Hemingway thus saw a conspiratorial connection of her own, connecting Whitehouse’s speech to a recent opinion piece in The Washington Post that was critical of the Federalist Society:

Hemingway also sought to turn the rhetorical tables, posting an image that alleged a nefarious web of connection between Whitehouse, as a progressive U.S. senator, and activist groups that promote issues such as women’s health care, environmental conservation, and LGBTQ rights. However, Hemingway missed a major point that publicly disclosed campaign donations to an elected U.S. senator are not the same as a network of financial support that pushes for lawsuits and judicial appointments designed to achieve policy aims in the courts on behalf of its undisclosed donors.

And while Hemingway’s featured illustration also contained passing mention of liberal philanthropist George Soros— a Holocaust survivor who is often the target of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories — Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) just went straight to the point:

Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, which also has a record of making conspiratorial smears against Soros, similarly skipped the middle man:

The Daily Wire founderBen Shapiro, himself no stranger to Soros conspiracy theories, talk of Trojan horses inside of Trojan horses, or killer progressives just around the corner, also mocked Whitehouse’s presentation:

taylor Swift fires off a surprisingly harsh attack on ‘Trump in a wig’ Marsha Blackburn in new documentary

Raw Story

In her new Netflix documentary Miss Americana, singer Taylor Swift takes aim at Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn and compares her to Trump.

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blackburn roasted for invoking ‘Jesus’ to bash Trump impeachment — but actually quoting Shakespeare instead

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/gop-sens-ron-johnson-and-marsha-blackburn-are-tied-to-russian-money-and-trump-conspiracy-theories-theyre-not-alone/

no lnx

GOP Sens. Ron Johnson and Marsha Blackburn are tied to Russian money and Trump conspiracy theories. They’re not alone

Written by Sophia Tesfaye / Salon October 30, 2019

Nancy Pelosi has announced that the House will finally hold a formal vote dictating the rules for the impeachment inquiry, six weeks after it was launched by a whistleblower’s complaint mysteriously withheld from Congress. And on Tuesday, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman backed up both the initial whistleblower and U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor by testifying that he too was concerned about the Trump administration’s push to use congressionally-allocated military aid to Ukraine to coerce an investigation into Joe Biden.

Congressional Republicans have long since stopped defending Trump on the merits since shortly after the White House released a transcript of a July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Instead, they’ve sought refuge in increasingly meaningless process arguments. So of course Pelosi agreeing to a formal vote on the rules of impeachment hasn’t stopped Republican complaints about the process. The goalposts will shift once again. No matter what the Democrats agree to, Republicans will complain about procedural unfairness and also refuse to concede the inquiry is legitimate. But how much of Republicans’ unwillingness to hold Trump accountable for his self-dealing is because they’re in on it?

On Monday the Washington Post published an interview with a Ukrainian diplomat who claimed to have met with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., this summer to discuss the baseless conspiracy theory promoted by President Trump that Ukrainian officials had interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

Johnson reportedly met with Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenkofor at least 30 minutes on Capitol Hill in July, and Telizhenko then met with Johnson’s Senate staff for five additional hours. According to the report, “the discussions focused in part on ‘the DNC issue’ — a reference to his unsubstantiated claim that the Democratic National Committee worked with the Ukrainian government in 2016 to gather incriminating information about then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Telizhenko said he could not recall the date of the meeting, but a review of his Facebook page revealed a photo of him and Johnson posted on July 11.”

Johnson is a vocal Trump defender who has hounded the inspector general of the intelligence community about investigating media leaks regarding the Ukraine call. He has previously admitted that he was told by Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, that Ukraine needed to “get to the bottom of what happened in 2016” in order to receive military aid.

As Johnson told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month, after Sondland told him that, he was assured “if President Trump has that confidence” that the Ukrainians would do his bidding, “then he’ll release the military spending.” Now, as the Post points out, Johnson’s “knowledge of key events” in the case may “complicate his role as a juror in a trial by the Senate.”

Recall that when Johnson was asked about his defense of Trump’s actions, he snapped at the simple question from NBC News’ Chuck Todd and spun out the same deep state conspiracy theory pushed by the likes of Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

Beyond his apparent involvement in Trump’s Ukraine dealings, Johnson is alleged to have benefited from campaign money illegally funneled from Russia via shell corporations owned by the National Rifle Association, which helped him win his tight 2016 race in Wisconsin.

Political action committees for Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham reportedly accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 election. McConnell and Graham are co-sponsors of a new resolution condemning the House impeachment inquiry. At least 50 Senate Republicans, several of whom have refused to publicly comment on the growing Ukraine scandal — citing a need to remain impartial for a likely Senate impeachment trial — have already signed onto that bill. The resolution is currently paused in the Senate Rules Committee until the House votes on impeachment rules later this week.

As House Democrats’ investigation has rapidly unveiled ever more damaging material regarding Trump’s Ukraine scandal, public support for impeachment has shot up. Reportedly nervous about his wall of defense in the Senate crumbling, the president recently hosted several GOP senators at the White House, including top Johnson, Graham, John Thune of South Dakota and John Kennedy of Louisiana, last week. A day earlier, Thune and Kennedy, had blocked a Democratic bill to provide funding for states to shore up election security. The next day, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., quietly blocked three election-security bills for the second time this year.

“You know, it’s not a good sign if you’re doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” Blackburn said on the Senate floor late last week. She is among the Republican senators with close ties to a U.S.-sanctioned Russian politician who is accused of illegally channeling Russian funds through the NRA. Under Senate rules, any individual senator can block a vote on a bill.

When Senate Republicans are not prematurely dismissing an impeachment inquiry on which they will probably have to render judgment, they continue to protect Trump’s refusal to clamp down on potential election interference. If Republican charges of a “kangaroo court” are anything, they are a classic case of projection: How can Senate Republicans possibly serve as impartial jurors in a trial of the president, when they are implicated in the same pattern of political malfeasance?

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon’s Deputy Politics Editor and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/why-marsha-blackburn-fell-on-a-grenade-for-donald-trump/

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no pledge?

LCV 6/4%

2012603Broad Environmental AssaultAir, Climate Change, Dirty Energy, Lands/Forests, Toxics/Public Right to Know, Water

2012600Regional Haze Air PollutionAir, Dirty Energy, Lands/Forests

2012597Clean Water SafeguardsWater, Wildlife

2012593Carbon Pollution Endangerment FindingClimate Change

2012568Minnesota Boundary Waters Land ExchangeLands/Forests, Water

2012554Land Conservation CutsLands/Forests

2012536Safeguards ShutdownOther

2012514Drinking Water ProtectionsWater

2012506Offshore Drilling Safety ReformsDrilling, Dirty Energy

2012468Hardrock MiningLands/Forests

2012447Migratory Bird Treaty ActWildlife

2012411Coal Ash PollutionDirty Energy, Water

2012410"Oil Above All" Energy StrategyAir, Lands/Forests, Drilling, Dirty Energy

2012395Public Health Basis of the Clean Air ActAir

2012387Broad Assault on Lands & WildlifeLands/Forests, Wildlife

2012385Public Land Grab by Federal Police AgentsLands/Forests

2012329Nuclear Energy SubsidyDirty Energy

2012317Fossil Fuel FundingDirty Energy

2012311Clean Energy FundingClean Energy

2012308Clean Water ProtectionsWater

2012292Keystone XL Tar Sands PipelineClimate Change, Dirty Energy, Water

2012262Flood Insurance ReformLands/Forests, Water, Other

2012241Climate Change EducationClimate Change

2012236Sea Turtle ProtectionsOceans, Wildlife

2012234National Ocean PolicyOceans

2012233Restriction on Dirty FuelsDirty Energy

2012170Environmental Assault in the Transportation BillClimate Change, Dirty Energy, Other, Transportation, Water

2012168National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in TransportationOther, Transportation

2012164Public Lands AssaultLands/Forests, Toxics/Public Right to Know, Wildlife

2012162National MonumentsLands/Forests

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snopes:

In July 2016, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) filed fraud complaints with several federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, against the Clinton Foundation. The IRS followed up by notifying Blackburn that her complaint was being referred to the Exempt Organizations Examinations office in Dallas, Texas. Meanwhile, Washington Post investigative reporter David Fahrenthold documented in detail several instances in which the Donald J. Trump Foundation violated federal rules against “self-dealing,” which forbid non-profit heads from using charity money for personal benefit.

In 2016, Donald Trump paid a fine to the IRS for making a political donation using Trump Foundation money. The Trump Foundation filed paperwork for dissolution in November 2017.

AP) — Tennessee’s Republican senators and two Senate candidates are speaking out against President Donald Trump’s refusal to condemn Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

Sen. Bob Corker said Trump’s comments Monday made the U.S. “look like a pushover.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander said there’s no doubt about Russia’s interference. He said it’s important for senators and special counsel Robert Mueller to continue and complete investigations.

Republican Rep. and Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn said foreign policy must be shaped around the incontrovertible facts, including the conclusion by intelligence agencies about Russia’s election meddling. She called Russia a bad actor that has been focused on the U.S.’s demise for decades.

Democratic ex-Gov. and Senate hopeful Phil Bredesen said he believes U.S. defense and intelligence agencies much more than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

==

donor: 2:04 AM - Nov 6, 2016

See Kline Preston's other Tweets

However, Preston may not the best judge of character — or political realities. Over the past week, Preston traveled throughout Russia to act as an “independent” international observer for Russia’s most recent sham election, which saw Putin effectively crowned for another six years.

The election was neither free nor fair, with rampant ballot-stuffing and carousel voting — to say nothing of blocking leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny from running — marring the election results.

Someday, Russia will have a free and fair election. CREDIT: GETTY / MIKHAIL SVETLOV

Meet the latest critic of Russia’s sham election: Edward Snowden

But that didn’t matter to Preston. According to Russian state media, Preston saw the election as “honest, open, and trustworthy,” adding that “Putin’s crushing victory is a clear sign of trust in his policy and leadership.”

In another video, Preston claimed that he “didn’t see any complaints” from voters.

While observing the Russian elections — and helping whitewash Putin’s regime — isn’t, on its face, illegal, RIA Novosti also reported that Preston observed “elections” inCrimea, which remains occupied by Russia. While in Crimea, Preston proclaimed that “Crimea is yours… Crimea was, is, and will be Russian.”

It’s also worth noting, as The Tennessean found, that Preston appears close with Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who is also one of his clients.Preston told The Tennessean that he was “close” to Blackburn, and that they’d been “family friends” for a “long time.”

==

==

Comcast, Verizon, AT&T winning fight against restoring net neutrality

Anyone doubting the power lobbyists still hold in Washington need only look at the ongoing, shameful net neutrality travesty.

It was bad enough that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, engineered the repeal of President Obama’s landmark rules prohibiting Internet Service Providers from blocking or slowing down the internet or giving preference for certain online content.

Now Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee wants to lock the vast majority of Pai’s rules into law through her proposed legislation with the Orwellian title: the Open Internet Preservation Act.

The Verizon, AT& T and Comcast Dream Act would be more appropriate.

Unlike Pai’s new rules, Blackburn’s bill would prevent ISPs from blocking access to websites. That’s good news. But Blackburn would put into law the FCC chairman’s approval to allow ISPs to charge content providers on websites a premium for faster speeds. The legislation would devastate small businesses and startups from being able to compete, throttling creativity and innovation. It would also rake in billions for the ISPs who have poured more than $600 million into their lobbying efforts over the last 20 years.

Blackburn has been one of their prime beneficiaries, receiving more than $500,000 from telecom companies since she took office in 2002, including $84,000 in the most recent election cycle, the biggest contribution to any member of the House of Representatives.

Don’t expect Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or Republicans in the Senate to stand up for consumers in a heist that will net Verizon, AT& T and Comcast billions. Telecom companies gave Mc-Connell a cool $250,000 in the last election cycle.

Blackburn also went out of her way to block any notion of blue states writing their own net neutrality laws. Her bill would pre-empt states from passing “any law, rule, regulation, duty, requirement, standard or other provision” related to net neutrality.

The Tennessee Republican was well aware that in California only days after the FCC vote, state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco announced that he would introduce a net neutrality bill when the Legislature reconvenes in January. Wiener later indicated that he would join forces with New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman of Manhattan to write legislation that would restore net neutrality to both states. Democrats in Congress are hoping that a small number of Senate Republicans who in the past have expressed some support for net neutrality may find the courage to oppose Blackburn’s bill if it reaches the Senate floor, as expected.

It will take a major show of outrage by consumers and the tech industry to help make the case. They can start by citing a recent survey by the University of Maryland showing that 80 percent of Americans — including 75 percent of Republicans — oppose the notion of repealing net neutrality regulations.

The only alternative is to hope the courts strike down Pai and Blackburn’s efforts — or that enough Democrats win seats in 2018 to start their own cycle of congressional “repeal and replace”.

Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee wants to lock most of the new rules into law through her proposed legislation with the Orwellian title: the Open Internet Preservation Act. The Verizon, AT& T and Comcast Dream Act would be more appropriate.

==

12/17 AN

...Now comes the Republican campaign to justify the killing of net neutrality by the FCC. Rep. Marsh Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has introduced legislation that allegedly “aims to ultimately end the heated debate around so-called 'net neutrality' regulations.”

As Breitbart News explained in its “exclusive interview” with Blackburn:

The FCC’s Obama-era net neutrality regulations controlled the Internet as a public monopoly, which conservatives argued diminished the freedom of the Internet and led to rampant censorship of conservative and alternative voices by content providers such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

The notion of “net neutrality” as a thwarted liberal conspiracy doesn’t have anything to do with Mueller and bears little relation to reality. But it nicely corroborates the master narrative that Trump is protecting the country from demonic liberals, from Silicon Valley to Washington, who won’t let America be America.

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Marino is a former prosecutor now in his third term in the House, and will step down from the Congress to take up his new position. His rural congressional district has seen rising concern about heroin and opioids, and he serves on the House bipartisan committee combating the opioid epidemic.

He has authored two recent successful drug policy bills, but both have their critics. The 2016 Transnational Drug Trafficking Act expands the ability of US prosecutors to use extraterritoriality to go after international drug traffickers, but while the law is touted as aiming at "kingpins," but observers south of the border have argued that the law "targets people on the lowest rungs of the trafficking ladder, i.e. Colombia's coca farmers."

Marino was also an author and key supporter of the 2016 Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, which supporters characterized as balancing the needs of patients, the pharmaceutical industry, and law enforcement, but which critics describe as a means of undercutting the DEA's ability to hold pharmaceutical drug distributors accountable for the diversion of large amounts of opioid pain relievers.

In the fight over that bill, Marino, as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Regulatory Reform, clashed repeatedly with DEA Office of Diversion Control head Joseph Rannazzisi. In a 2014 conference call with congressional staffers, Rannazzisi warned that the bill, backed by a pharmaceutical industry lobbying campaign, would protect corporations engaged in criminal activity.

"This bill passes the way it’s written we won’t be able to get immediate suspension orders, we won’t be able to stop the hemorrhaging of these drugs out of these bad pharmacies and these bad corporations," Rannazzisi recalled telling them. "What you’re doing is filing a bill that will protect defendants in our cases."

Rannazzisi's opposition infuriated Marino, who ripped into the veteran DEA official's boss, then-DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart at a congressional hearing later that year.

"It is my understanding that Joe Rannazzisi, a senior DEA official, has publicly accused we sponsors of the bill of, quote, 'supporting criminals,' unquote,” Marino said. “This offends me immensely."

A week later, Marino and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) demanded that the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General investigate Rannazzis for "intimidating" members of Congress. Rannazzissi was replaced and retired in October 2015.

If his legislative legacy is any indication, Marino is will be the sort of drug czar who is tough on Colombian peasant farmers, but not so tough on major US pharmaceutical opioid manufacturers.

That's good enough for anti-marijuana crusader and former ONDCP advisor Kevin Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (Project SAM). "My understanding is that Tom has a deep understanding of the issue and is excited to get started," he enthused.

But it's not good enough for anyone interested in a progressive approach to drug policy.

==

https://thinkprogress.org/austrian-party-founded-by-nazis-is-in-d-c-for-political-meetings

A major Austrian party founded by Nazis is in DC for political meetings

The leader of the Austrian Freedom Party says he met with Trump’s NSA adviser in December.

Heinz-Christian Strache, chairman of the anti-migrant and anti-EU Freedom Party FPOe, smiles as he arrives in a TV studio in the Hofburg in Austria’s capital Vienna Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016. CREDIT: AP Photo/Ronald Zak

An Austrian right-wing party founded by Nazis sent a delegation to Washington, D.C. this week for a series of political discussions.

“There is a series of invitations to talks with interesting political representatives of the United States on the sidelines of the US president’s inauguration on our packed schedule,”Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party,said recently.

The Freedom Party was founded in 1956, and its first leader was a former SS officer. The nationalist, nativist party recently lost domestic elections, albeit by a narrow margin. Norbert Hofer, the party’s presidential candidate, made anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments the core tenets of his campaign.

Strache recently called for “minus immigration” and compared Islam to Nazism. He claimed to have attended a meeting with President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn at Trump Tower in December, though Trump’s team denied the meeting.

Strache’s itinerary is unclear. His delegation was pictured with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)Thursday evening, though there is no indication whether or not they will be in attendance at the inauguration.

One right-wing figure who will be at the inauguration, though, is Nigel Farage, former leader of the U.K. Independence Party and a key figure in pushing for Britain’s split from the European Union.

Farage was invited to attend the inauguration by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R). Farage also threw an inauguration party Thursday night in honor of Trump’s ascent to power, the Guardian reported.

Other right wing figures in Europe, like France’s Marine Le Pen of the Front National (FN) and Frauke Petry of Alternative for German (AfD), will be attending a conference in the German city of Koblenz. Le Pen was seen in Trump Tower last week, though she claimed it wasn’t to meet Trump, despite her steadfast support for his campaign.

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Controversial Energy Subsidy Report Made Public By Watchdog Group

Brendan DeMelle | Posted 10.01.2011 | Green

Read More: Corporate Welfare, Energy Information Administration, Checks and Balances Project, Howard Gruenspecht, DeSmog Blog, Energy Information Administration Report Flaws, Energy Information Administration Report, Energy Reports, Renewable Energy Report, Green News

The Checks and Balances Project has obtained a copy of the controversial Energy Information Administration report that was called "garbage" by EIA Acting Administrator Howard Gruenspecht.

Read Whole Story

Checks and Balances Project has obtained a copy of the controversial Energy Information Administration report that was called “garbage” by EIA Acting Administrator Howard Gruenspecht. The polluter-friendly report was just delivered yesterday afternoon to the GOP House requesters, Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn(R-TN) and Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD). Checks and Balances provided a copy to DeSmogBlog, which we’re providing to the public here: “Direct Federal Financial Interventions and Subsidies in Energy in Fiscal Year 2010” [PDF].

Gabe Elsner, Deputy Director of the Checks and Balances Project, told DeSmogBlog that, “if it’s true that the Acting Administrator Gruenspecht called this report a “piece of garbage” he was right, because it deliberately leaves out the six other ways in which coal, oil and natural gas get government handouts. The fossil fuel welfare tab is tens or hundreds of times greater than the cost of pro-renewable policy support.”

Elsner says that this report is essentially a re-issue of the 2007 Alexander study that was designed to defend public welfare to the fossil fuel industry, such as oil and gas industry subsidies. The new EIA analysis fails to take into account the full range of subsidies at play in the energy sector, and therefore delivers a favorable analysis of fossil fuels over renewables.

By excluding a lot of the other avenues of direct federal support given disproportionately to fossil fuel interests, as well as financial tools designed to assist dirty energy companies, the report is just plain faulty, or “fuzzy math” as some guy once said.

Missing from the EIA calculations are a plethora of advantages the dirty energy industry enjoys over clean tech companies, including outsized direct subsidies for mature industries, publicly funded pollution cleanup assistance, cheap insurance, low-interest federal loans, extensive tax breaks, and — most gut wrenching in the wake of Tim DeChristopher’s imprisonment — insanely cheap public land leases for oil and gas drilling, as well as access to public lands and tax credits to build transmission lines.

On Monday, the Checks and Balances Project, Greenpeace U.S. and Oil Change International plan to file this Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request [PDF] to the EIA seeking records of the meetings and communications between the EIA and the three GOP Congressmembers’ offices, as well as other materials used in compiling the report.

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==

ridenour:

It is a sign of the unseriousness of the mainstream media that the NBC program "Meet the Press" will be hosting a climate debate Sunday featuring a person who plays a scientist on TV.

Yes, tomorrow it is "Bill Nye the Science Guy" versus Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The TV show "Bill Nye the Science Guy" may have been about science, but it was science for kids and Nye had script writers. And before that, Nye spent time doing a little comedy show in Seattle, playing silly characters such asSpeed Walker."

In the past, I've analyzed Bill Nye's performances in TV interviews and debates about climate change. Nye has repeatedly debated Climate Depot's Marc Morano, and, to steal part of a line from Muhammad Ali, duringan early match-up, on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, Morano beat Nye so bad, Nye needed a shoehorn to put his bow tie back on.

So did Nye come up with some new arguments when Fox hosted a re-match? No, he didn't bother. He trotted out the same weak arguments, such as comparing the population of the Earth in the 1700s to the population of the Earth today. That's not even close to a credible attempt to prove that carbon dioxide is causing temperature change, let alone soon-to-be-catastrophic change. And so Marc Morano trounced him again.

Nye isn't an unintelligent man -- he has a degree in mechanical engineering and has earned patents in that field -- but he's spent many years in entertainment, and that's no way to hone debate skills.

So why would Meet the Press, supposedly a serious show, book Bill Nye to debate Rep. Blackburn? In my view, it's because Meet the Press isn't a serious show. Although it's nowhere near true that 97% of all climate scientists believe in the catastrophic global warming theory, there are some scientists out there who do believe in it, and some of them are known to enjoy publicity. But what is likely to get higher ratings, a semi-celebrity debating a Member of Congress, or a scientist?

Clearly Meet the Press knows its audience, and knows it is the former.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/amy-ridenour/2014/02/15/meet-press-host-climate-change-debate-featuring-guy-who-played-scienti#ixzz2u0BHYwmu

A week from the 2012 Republican National Convention, Republican committee members spent Tuesday articulating and affirming the principles they stand for in a draft of the official party platform. Led by Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and featuring other Tea Party stars like Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the committee approved a draft of the platform McDonnell said “will reflect the heart and soul of the Republican Party” and one committee member called “the most conservative platform in modern history.”

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Marsha_Blackburn

Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, has represented the Seventh Congressional District of Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2002. (map)

Contents[hide]

1 Record and controversies

1.1 Iraq War

1.2 Environmental record

2 Bio

2.1 Congressional career

2.1.1 2006 elections

3 Money in politics

4 Committees and Affiliations

4.1 Committees

4.1.1 Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

5 More Background Data

6 Contact

7 Articles and resources

7.1 Articles

7.2 Resources

7.2.1 Local blogs and discussion sites

Record and controversies

General information about important bills and votes for can be found in Congresspedia's articles on legislation. You can add information you find on how Marsha Blackburn voted by clicking the "[edit]" link to the right and typing it in. Remember to cite your sources!

Iraq War

For more information see the chart of U.S. House of Representatives votes on the Iraq War.

Environmental record

For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Bio

Born June 6, 1952 in Laurel, Mississippi, Blackburn began her political career in 1977 as a founding member of the Williamson County Young Republicans. She served as chairwoman of the Williamson County Republican Party from 1989 to 1991.

Blackburn's elective political career began in 1992, when she won the Republican nomination for the 6th District, which at the time included her home in Brentwood. She lost by 16 points to longtime congressman Bart Gordon. In 1995, she was appointed chairwoman of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission. She won elective office for the first time in 1998, when she was elected to the Tennessee State Senate from Williamson County. She led efforts to prevent the passage of a state income tax championed by Governor Don Sundquist.

Congressional career

The 2002 reapportionment moved Blackburn's home from the 6th District into the 7th District. After a tough primary, she easily won the general election, becoming the first Tennessee woman elected to Congress in her own right. She was unopposed for reelection in 2004.

Blackburn is a staunch conservative and received National Journal's "highest conservative voting rank for any female member of Congress and placed tenth overall in the House." She is ant-tax and pro-business. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce awarded here the 2004 "spirit of enterprise" award, Americans for Tax Reform called Blackburn a "taxpayer hero" in 2003, The Small Business Survival Committee named her a "small business advocate" in 2003, and she scored a perfect 100 in the American Shareholders Association 2003 ranking. She also stands for "family values." The Family Research Council gave Blackburn the "true blue" award for the first half of the 108th Congress. [1]

Blackburn is considered by some to have appreciably more influence than is typical of a two-term legislator. She was selected to serve as an assistant majority whip and was named a "freshman to watch" by National Journal, while Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, called her a "rising star." [2]

2006 elections

In 2006, the Democrats nominated Bill Morrison to face Blackburn in her November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) [3] Blackburn retained her seat.

Money in politics

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. cid=N00003105&cycle=2006

Links to more campaign contribution information for Marsha Blackburn

from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

Links to more campaign contribution information for Marsha Blackburn

from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

Links to more campaign contribution information for Marsha Blackburn

from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

Fundraising profile:

2006 election cycle

Career totals

Top contributors by organization/corporation:

2006 election cycle

Career totals

Top contributors by industry:

2006 election cycle

Career totals

Revolving door profile for Marsha Blackburn from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.

2006 privately funded travel profile for Marsha Blackburn from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.

Personal finance profile for Marsha Blackburn from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.

Committees and Affiliations

Advisory Committee, Susan B. Anthony List ^[1]^

Committees

House Committee on Financial Services

Subcommitee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises

Subcommitee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology

House Committee on Homeland Security

Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology

Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet

Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection

Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

More Background Data

Background information on Marsha Blackburn from Project Vote Smart

Interest group scorecard ratings for Marsha Blackburn from Project Vote Smart

Voting record for Marsha Blackburn from the Washington Post database

Information on Marsha Blackburn from Congress Merge

Wikipedia also has an article on Marsha Blackburn. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.

Contact

DC Office:

509 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Phone: 202-225-2811

Fax: 202-225-3004

Web Email

Website

District Office- Clarksville:

1850 Memorial Drive

Clarksville, TN 37043

Phone: 931-503-0391

Fax: 931-503-0393

District Office- Franklin:

City Hall Mall

109 Third Avenue South, Suite 117

Franklin, TN 37064

Phone: 615-591-5161

Fax: 615-599-2916

District Office- Memphis:

7975 Stage Hills Boulevard, Suite 1

Memphis, TN 38133

Phone: 901-382-5811

Fax: 901-373-8215

Articles and resources

Articles

Blackburn Cash Goes to Son-in-Law by Bartholomew Sullivan, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 2/19/06.

Blackburn in spotlight at GOP meeting by Bonna de la Cruz, Tennessean, 3/11/06.

Resources

Official website

Campaign website

Technorati Search: Marsha Blackburn

Google News Search: Marsha Blackburn

Yahoo! News Search: Marsha Blackburn

Power Trips: How much did Marsha Blackburn travel?

GovTrack Statistics: Marsha Blackburn

Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database

Local blogs and discussion sites

Corresponding article on Wikipedia and Cause Caller. (If Cause Caller link does not work, pick from its list of senators and representatives.)

she and scalise went after gore:

milloy version:

Gore lies to Congress about personal finances

April 24, 2009

When Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn confronted Al Gore with his profiteering from global warming legislation at today’s House Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing on the Waxman-Markey climate bill, Al Gore said that every penny he ever made from his business activities went into non-profit efforts. [See transcript below.]

That is a flat-out lie, according to this March 6, 2008 Bloomberg report that indicates that Al Gore invested $35 million of his own money in various for-profit endeavors.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore left the White House seven years ago with less than $2 million in assets, including a Virginia home and the family farm in Tennessee. Now he’s making enough to put $35 million in hedge funds and other private partnerships.

Gore invested the money with Capricorn Investment Group LLC, a Palo Alto, California, firm that selects the private funds for clients and invests in makers of environmentally friendly products, according to a Feb. 1 securities filing. Capricorn was founded by billionaire Jeffrey Skoll, former president of EBay Inc. and an executive producer of Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary film on global warming.

Kudos to Rep. Blackburn for asking one of the “10 Questions for Al Gore” and exposing Gore as the fundamentally dishonest operator that he is.

Here’s the transcript from the April 24, 2009exchange between Al Gore and Rep. Blackburn. Note that not only does Al Gore lie to Rep. Blackburn, he tries to turn the tables by implicitly accusing her of being anti-business.

Rep. Blackburn: …You talked a little about [that] people have to have trust in what you’re doing and I think you know that this bill is going to fundamentally change the way America works and it’s going to effect families. We’ve all talked about how it affects individuals and what it’s going to do to their budgets and… ah… what it’s going to do to jobs in this country. And given the magnitude of those changes, I think it’s really important that no suspicion or shadow fall on the foremost advocates of climate change legislation. So I wanted to give you the opportunity to kind of clear the air about your motives and to set the record straight about your motives for some of your former constituents. And I’ve got an article from [the] October 8 [2008]New York Times Magazine about a firm called Kleiner Perkins… a capital firm called Kleiner Perkins. Are you aware of that company?

Al Gore: Well, yes. I’m a partner at Kleiner Perkins.

Rep. Blackburn: So you’re a partner inKleiner Perkins. OK. Now they have invested about a billion dollars in 40 companies that are going to benefit from cap-and-trade legislation. So is the legislation that we are discussing here today, is that something that you are going to personally benefit from?

Al Gore: [Sigh]… I believe that the transition to a green economy is good for our economy and good for all of us. And I have invested in it. But every penny that I have made, I have put right into a nonprofit, the Alliance for Climate Protection, to spread awareness of why we have to take on this challenge. And, Congresswoman, if you’re… if you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don’t know me.

Rep. Blackburn: No, sir, I’m not making accusations. I’m asking questions that have been asked of me. And individuals… constituents… that were seeking a point of clarity. So I am asking…

Al Gore: I understand exactly what you’re doing Congresswoman. Everybody here does.

Rep. Blackburn: Well, are you willing to divest yourself of any profit. Does all of it go to a not-for-profit. Is it an education not-for-profit?

Al Gore:Every penny that I have made has gone to it. Every penny from the movie, the book… uh… from any investments from renewable energy. I’ve been willing to put my money where my mouth is. Do you think there is something wrong with being active in business in this country?

Rep. Blackburn: I am simply asking for clarification on the relationship.

Al Gore: I’m proud of it. I’m proud of it.

Rep. Blackburn: Thank you and I appreciate the answer…

bloomberg: note this says nothing about profits

Gore Invests $35 Million for Hedge Funds With EBay Billionaire

By Miles Weiss - March 6, 2008 00:07 EST

Gore invested the money with Capricorn Investment Group LLC, a Palo Alto, California, firm that selects the private funds for clients and invests in makers of environmentally friendly products, according to a Feb. 1 securities filing. Capricorn was founded by billionaire Jeffrey Skoll, former president of EBay Inc. and an executive producer of Gore's Oscar-winning documentary film on global warming.March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore left the White House seven years ago with less than $2 million in assets, including a Virginia home and the family farm in Tennessee. Now he's making enough to put $35 million in hedge funds and other private partnerships.

Since losing the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, Gore, 59, is best known for focusing attention on climate change through his book and movie, ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' which helped him win a Nobel Peace Prize. Gore's newfound wealth resulted, in part, from speaking engagements and ties to Silicon Valley firms with soaring stock market values, such as Google Inc. and Apple Inc.

``Gore got a lot of support from Silicon Valley when he ran for president because they knew the Internet was one of his primary concerns,'' said Tony Coelho, a former congressman and investment banker who served as chairman of Gore's 2000 campaign.

It's very legit that these people would pursue him'' after he left office, Coelho said, adding that Gore received Google and Apple stock options before their shares went into the stratosphere.''

Kalee Kreider, a spokeswoman for Gore and his wife, Tipper, declined to comment on the hedge-fund investment or how Gore has made his money.

`Private Citizen'

``He is a private citizen, and as a private citizen he has never commented on his private finances,'' said Kreider, who works out of Nashville, Tennessee.

Gore donated his proceeds from the global-warming book and movie to his Alliance for Climate Protection, Kreider added.

John Jonson, chief operating officer at Capricorn, also had no comment.

Gore's investment, disclosed in a private-placement filing at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was made through Carthage LP. The partnership, formed in December, has the same name as the ex-vice president's home town in Tennessee.

Skoll, 43, founded Capricorn after deciding in late 2001 that he wanted to diversify his wealth, at the time comprised primarily of EBay stock. The firm began taking on a few outside clients last year, according to SEC filings.

Father's Estate

In the last personal finance report he filed as vice president, Gore disclosed on May 22, 2000, that the value of his assets totaled between $780,000 and $1.9 million. In addition, Gore listed an interest in his father's estate that included Occidental Petroleum Corp. stock worth as much as $1 million.

He and Tipper Gore released tax returns for 1998 showing they earned $224,376 that year, less than half the income of President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, news reports at the time said.

Now Gore charges a $175,000 speaking fee and has a net worth ``well in excess'' of $100 million, including pre-public offering Google stock options, according to an article in Fastcompany.com last year. Kreider said the speaking fees vary and Gore doesn't disclose them.

Gore has served as a senior adviser to Mountain View, California-based Google since February 2001, shortly after leaving public office. Google spokesman Jon Murchinson said in an e-mail: ``We have not provided comment on if or how we compensate Mr. Gore in his role as an advisor to Google.''

Metropolitan West

The former vice president also served as vice chairman of Metropolitan West Financial Inc., a money manager run in part by former Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. executives, starting in 2001.

He co-founded Current Media Inc., a cable television and Internet company, in 2002 and is listed as its executive chairman in a January SEC filing for the company's initial public offering. It said he earned $1 million in salary and bonus last year, and owned 3.7 million shares of company stock.

Gore joined Apple's board in 2003 and co-founded London-based Generation Investment Management in 2004. Last November, he became a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

Capricorn, in managing Skoll's fortune -- estimated at $4.2 billion by Forbes magazine last March -- primarily allocates money to different private partnerships, including hedge funds and energy and real-estate funds.

Skoll Foundation

One of Capricorn's clients, the Skoll Foundation, had almost $264 million, or 78 percent of its assets, invested in more than 75 partnerships at June 30, 2006, according to its most recently available tax filing with the Internal Revenue Service.

The funds included Eric Mindich's Eton Park Capital Management LP, Ralph Whitworth's Relational Investors LLC, and Arthur Samberg's Pequot Capital Management Inc.

``They don't put all their eggs in one basket,'' said Homi Vazifdar, a managing director at theCanyon Group, of Larkspur, California, who is familiar with Capricorn's investment style.

Stephen George, Capricorn's chief investment officer, previously worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. specializing in helping technology clients develop expertise in e-commerce. New York-based Goldman underwrote San Jose, California-based EBay's initial public offering.

To contact the reporter on this story: Miles Weiss in Washington at mweiss@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Edelman in Boston atledelman3@bloomberg.net

1

American College of Radiology

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$20,000

$0

$20,000

2

Curb Records

$15,000

$15,000

$0

3

AT&T Inc

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$13,000

$0

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Ingram Industries

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$12,500

$10,000

$2,500

4

Verizon Communications

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$12,500

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6

Koch Industries

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$12,000

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FedEx Corp

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$12,000

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American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

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$11,000

$0

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Comcast Corp

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$10,500

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Copart Inc

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Altria Group

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Beaman Automotive Group

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National Cable & Telecommunications Assn

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Psychiatric Solutions

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Consumer Electronics Assn

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$8,000

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Community Health Systems

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National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn

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Healthmark Ventures

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Honeywell International

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Deloitte LLP

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$7,250

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American College of Radiology

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Curb Records

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AT&T Inc

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Ingram Industries

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Verizon Communications

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Koch Industries

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$12,000

$0

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6

FedEx Corp

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$12,000

$2,000

$10,000

8

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

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$11,000

$0

$11,000

9

Comcast Corp

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$10,500

$0

$10,500

10

Copart Inc

$10,000

$10,000

$0

10

Altria Group

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$10,000

$0

$10,000

10

Beaman Automotive Group

$10,000

$10,000

$0

10

National Cable & Telecommunications Assn

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$10,000

$0

$10,000

10

Psychiatric Solutions

$10,000

$10,000

$0

15

Consumer Electronics Assn

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$8,000

$0

$8,000

16

Community Health Systems

BROKEN IMAGE: file:///C:/DATAleno/BRAINS/webodec3_brain/Files/9A484A62-0D04-E951-B288-62B43DBD0A59/PersonalBrain%20Notes/downloadedimagefile95.png

$7,500

$5,000

$2,500

16

National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn

BROKEN IMAGE: file:///C:/DATAleno/BRAINS/webodec3_brain/Files/9A484A62-0D04-E951-B288-62B43DBD0A59/PersonalBrain%20Notes/downloadedimagefile96.png

$7,500

$0

$7,500

16

Healthmark Ventures

$7,500

$7,500

$0

16

Honeywell International

BROKEN IMAGE: file:///C:/DATAleno/BRAINS/webodec3_brain/Files/9A484A62-0D04-E951-B288-62B43DBD0A59/PersonalBrain%20Notes/downloadedimagefile97.png

$7,500

$0

$7,500

20

Deloitte LLP

BROKEN IMAGE: file:///C:/DATAleno/BRAINS/webodec3_brain/Files/9A484A62-0D04-E951-B288-62B43DBD0A59/PersonalBrain%20Notes/downloadedimagefile98.png

BROKEN IMAGE: file:///C:/DATAleno/BRAINS/webodec3_brain/Files/9A484A62-0D04-E951-B288-62B43DBD0A59/PersonalBrain%20Notes/downloadedimagefile99.png

$7,250

$2,250

$5,000

Health Professionals

$121,950

$20,450

$101,500

Pharmaceuticals/Health Products

$73,500

$9,500

$64,000

TV/Movies/Music

$69,000

$22,000

$47,000

Oil & Gas

$59,250

$9,750

$49,500

Automotive

$34,750

$25,250

$9,500

Telephone Utilities

$34,500

$0

$34,500

Health Services/HMOs

$32,250

$8,000

$24,250

Insurance

$28,750

$4,250

$24,500

Hospitals/Nursing Homes

$28,500

$6,000

$22,500

Lawyers/Law Firms

$21,500

$10,750

$10,750

Retail Sales

$21,250

$7,250

$14,000

Misc Finance

$21,000

$15,500

$5,500

Lobbyists

$20,750

$20,250

$500

Retired

$19,950

$19,950

$0

Commercial Banks

$17,500

$4,000

$13,500

Misc Manufacturing & Distributing

$17,000

$8,000

$9,000

Securities & Investment

$16,750

$14,250

$2,500

Tobacco

$15,500

$1,500

$14,000

International Issues

Domestic Issues

Economic Issues

Social Issues

Foreign Policy

Gun Control

Budget & Economy

Education

Homeland Security

Crime

Government Reform

Civil Rights

War & Peace

Drugs

Tax Reform

Abortion

Free Trade

Health Care

Social Security

Families & Children

Immigration

Technology

Corporations

Welfare & Poverty

Energy & Oil

Environment

Jobs

Principles & Values